Egyptian student who invaded City University lecture could be deported

The professor claims that one unidentified demonstrator threatened him with beheading. There is no suggestion that this was Ghanem.

Ben-Gad being confronted by protesters during the lecture[Missing Credit]

Now it has emerged that Ghanem, 21, was suspended from his own university, King’s College London (KCL), earlier this year over his role in anti-Israel activism.

He faces losing his student visa to remain in the UK if his suspension is not overturned.

Ghanem claims that he faces the threat of torture if he is returned to Egypt.

A member of the Students for Justice for Palestine (SJP) movement, he has taken part in several demonstrations around London.

In protest at King’s in February in which he was involved, a Jewish student felt forced to take refuge in a chaplaincy room in fear for his safety.

It happened as anti-Israel activists stormed a campus discussion about dialogue between Israelis and Iranians. The JC revealed that individuals linked to SJP had registered for the event under false pretences in order to sabotage it.

Around 20 minutes into the talk, featuring Faezeh Alavi, a Muslim woman who fled Iran at the age of 25, a protester with a megaphone shouted: “There has been a genocide happening for 15 months. How are you not going to talk about that?”

As the disruption escalated, Alavi was escorted from the room by security, while the Jewish student chairing the event locked himself inside a nearby chaplaincy room as four or five protesters attempted to break in.

“I felt extremely unsafe. I was just distressed. I went into the room to get away from it all, but when I saw them trying to get in, I went into another room inside that room, to hide,” he told the JC.

The JC understands that Ghanem was suspended indefinitely from KCL for his role in the incident. He had already faced disciplinary action over his involvement in previous protests.

Speaking to Cage International, Ghanem said: “King's chose to single me out, label me as a leader and tried to punish me and punish any dissent against its investments in Israel and to make an example of its students when they target their university for complicity, then this happens to them.”

Usama Ghanem claims he has been 'silenced' by KCL (Photo: Instagram)[Missing Credit]

Under KCL policy, any international student suspended for more than 60 days must be reported to UK Visas and Immigration, triggering a review of their visa sponsorship. As an international student, Ghanem’s right to be in the UK is now in question.

Campaigners seeking to overturn KCL’s suspension decision through legal action say members of Ghanem’s family have been imprisoned in Egypt and warn he would face torture if returned. Aged 16, he was reportedly arrested alongside his father and brother and tortured for speaking against Egypt’s regime.

In footage of the protest against Ben-Gad, Ghanem was partly masked in a red keffiyeh, but enough of his face visible for him still to be identifiable.

He accused the professor of massacring civilians and demanded that he be tried at The Hague.

“He served in the 1982 war against Lebanon, he has killed innocent people, he helped in the massacre of Sabra and Shatila,” Ghanem said.

“This is not someone to learn from, this is someone to be trailed at the Hague.

“You should all, as conscious students walk out,” he went on. “This professor – his hand is stained off of genocide. His stand is stained of blood.

“As conscious students, we cannot learn from IDF veterans that killed our brothers and sisters in Palestine every single day. This man has blood on his hands,” Ghanem said, addressing the students sitting in the economics lecture.

Ben-Gad, who has worked at City since 2008, told Sky News that his lecture had been invaded by protesters who “came right up to me and screamed in my face, called me a war criminal and a Nazi”.

“They refused to leave, they were masked. One of them made a threat about having my head chopped off.”

The presence of Ghanem and a number of other protestors suggests there may be a coordinated network of anti-Israel activists operating across London university campuses.

Israeli Professor Michael Ben-Gad was branded a 'terrorist' by the protesters (Photo: Instagram)[Missing Credit]

The protest was roundly condemned by more than 1,600 academics who came to Ben-Gad's defence, signing a letter warning that the campaign against him “sets a precedent under which others could be targeted in the future”.

The lecture invasion came days after police were called to City's Clerkenwell campus as masked activists displayed posters of Ben-Gad against a blood-stained background with the words: “Ex-IOF [Israel Occupation Forces] terrorist roaming in our lecture halls.”

John Mann, a former Labour MP who sits in the House of Lords, also defended Ben-Gad, telling Times Higher Education, “Free speech does not allow university, college or other educational staff to be hassled [or] intimidated at their place of work.”

“What happened is the antithesis of free speech. Those who threaten in this way should be immediately expelled from higher education.”

There is growing political support for revoking the visas of international students involved in disruptive protests.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said that foreign nationals involved in the City activism should be deported.

“I think that those students, certainly if there was a Conservative government, they would be expelled, and those who were not from this country would have their visas revoked,” she told the JC.

Ben-Gad said the protesters had “crossed a very bright red line,” with their demonstration.

“Remember these people hate Britain, for its unique tradition of civility, its freedom and its tolerance, as much as they hate Israel and Jews,” he said.

Approached for comment, Ghanem told the JC: “Universities should protect freedom of expression, not criminalise it. Peaceful protest is not a crime – targeting Palestinian and Muslim students is. The line of inquiry being pursued is defamatory, rooted in baseless associations, and I am consulting legal counsel in response to the serious and misleading connotations being drawn.”

A KCL spokesperson said: “We cannot comment on individual cases and issues which are the subject of legal proceedings however, as we have made clear, students are not subject to disciplinary action on the basis of lawful protest or affiliation, and it is untrue to suggest otherwise. The safety of our students and staff must be, and is always, our highest priority and proportionate action is taken when behaviour is found to be in breach of our regulations which are in place to maintain a safe environment on campus.”